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Google’s Too-Darn-Bad Scandal

Hey, advertisers, some of us supply content that’s tasteful and family-friendly.

By

Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.

March 28, 2017 6:34 p.m. ET

Selling ads against user-generated content was always a risky proposition, in which Google and its advertisers indulged with their eyes open on Google’s YouTube platform.

Now this predictable challenge has produced an alleged crisis for the internet, as businesses as diverse as Hyundai, McDonald’s and L’Oréal march off in a huff and say they can no longer advertise on YouTube. That ads are ending up next to content they find inappropriate and offensive might seem a big yawn. Google’s algorithms are good at picking out which...